Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Jimmy Peniston

What an unusual theme today! I was confused when I finished the puzzle and went back to look at the revealer at 58A: Hierarchichal system ... or what is formed when the answers to the starred clues are placed end to end (FOODCHAIN). I had noted the fruits in 17A and 49A and assumed there would be some food related shenanigans, but then the starred clues also included the answers ACHOO and AUTOMATON. What was going on?

Turns out if you do exactly what the revealer instructs, you get:

APPLE - GATE/AU - TOMATO - N/ACHO - O/LIVE - DATES

What the...

That is awesome. I bow to the mind that put this together.

Yum

After something like that, the rest is just gravy. THEEU, WALLST, and DADAART are fun things to find in the fill with their unusual congregation of letters. I have many fond memories of BODEGAS from my time living in the City. 

It's a bit odd to have both SEAGOD and SEAMONKEY in the puzzle, but I don't particularly have a problem with the repetition. 

21A: Honey and Sugar, for two (PETNAMES) didn't fool me, due to the capitalizations. Otherwise there weren't any cleverly misleading clues, which ran pretty straightforwardly for a Wednesday. Let's hope The Turn gives us a whole bunch of cleverness.

 

- Colum